CCRI is the largest specialist rural research centre in the UK, having expertise in all aspects of research in policy and planning for the countryside and the environment of the UK, Europe and further afield.

CCRI Seminar presentation – Thursday 16th February

Dr Nick James, who is a geographer and Associate Lecturer with the Open University, and Liz Child, a Human Ecology graduate and a local fresh food campaigner, are making a presentation on Thursday 16th February entitled ‘A Horticultural Belt for Stroud District’.

Stroud District [Food] and Horticultural Belt Group is a small working group that has researched and drawn up a report over a period of four years. The report concerns creating opportunity for smallholders and market gardeners to farm in the Stroud rural district, supported by an improved short food-chain market infrastructure.

The main aim is to search for and prescribe effective policy and action in the agrarian and food provisioning sector. If “agroecology”, recommended by the FAO and deliberated by UK government, is to move into practice at the local level, then the policy structures for steering and enabling a transformation need to be considered within the context of the local authorities and institutions working with food and agricultural supplies.

The main question is therefore: What are the chances of finding such policy arenas that may stimulate the local prospects for a response? A secondary question is: How do we work with farmers and land owners to investigate the chances to enable a food and horticultural belt?

Nick James’s work is mainly in food, and environmental policy. Nick was part of the Transition Stroud Food Strategy Group from 2012.

Liz Child is an allotmenteer in Stroud. While living in Nailsworth she was a member of GoGrow, Nailsworth Valleys community group.

The event will be chaired by Matt Reed.

CCRI seminars are free to attend, but if you intend to come along it would be useful if you could let us know by sending an email. This will also enable us to inform you of any changes to the programme, which can happen from time to time.